Report on the trip to St. Petersburg, April-May 2001

Idea to go to St. Petersburg came from my correpsondence, via Internet, with a Russian editor of World Socialist Web Site http://www.wsws.org/index.shtml/. He lives in St. Petersburg and his name is Vladimir Volkov. So, since I was considering for a long time where to go for the May holidays (Soviet equivalent of a "Spring break" in the U.S.), I decided that a personal acquaintance would be good.

It seems that at present (for the last 10 years) the revolutionary movement in the former USSR principally takes on the form of various activists riding all over the country, trying to meet other activists and discuss issues with them.

Before going, I asked for a preliminary view of the main topics which interest the guy. They were: 1) global economy, and 2) history of the former Soviet Union, and in particular events in Chechnya. Based on the articles which I have read on WSWS, I have written to him an extensive letter, outlining my reactions to the views (both in Russian and English sections of the site) to the topics mentioned above. This was by the way of the preliminary discussion, more about which later.

The round trip ticket from Kiev to St.Petersburg cost around 160 hrivnas, i.e. around $30. This was in the third class (windows don't open in the summer humid weather). After I got the ticket, I felt exhilirated because of the long lines which were at the ticket office: many people wanted to leave for the holidays.

I arrived to St. Petersburg on April 27, 2001. On arrival, I wasn't able to call Vladimir because he gave me an incorrect phone number. But, since I gave him, in a preliminary fashion, my telephone # in St.Petersburg, he was able to call me in the evening. Meanwhile, on that day I met my wonderful host, Lena. I have spent a week living in her apartment, with her parrot "Kesha". On the right, you can see her photograph taken on the day of arrival.

(click on photo to enlarge)

We agreed to meet with Volkov on the next day in his apartment (which I didn't like, since I came all the way from Kiev to meet him). I rode my bike to the center of St. Petersburg. There, I met Volkov for the first time, with his beautiful wife Yulia (see picture below). She is also a part of the movement which calls itself "An International Committee of the Fourth International" (ICFI, in Russian: 淌兹). [Just to remind a novice reader: the First International was that founded by Marx in London, in the Second - German Social Democracy played a leading role, prior to World War I, the Third one was founded by Lenin (Comintern), and the Fourth one was founded by Trotsky, in 1938, in exile.]

On the first day we have had a prolonged discussion, from about 9 in the morning, until around 3 in the afternoon. After that time, I got so tired that I took a nap, and then, after a brief stroll through the food markets together with them, I went home on my bike.

The first reason I got so tired was because of, what appeared to me, as an oppressive and lecturing manner of

speaking on the part of Volkov. This I noticed even before I met him, through our exchange of letters (e-mail). I immediately tried to bring this to his attention. In particular, I believe that a modern manner of communication involves both teaching and learning from somebody. Hence, the fashion of dialogue is necessary. It is the style of Socrates, rather than the lecturing manner of Aristotle. One reason for such a one-sided manner of speaking can be the newness of our movement. We usually have little chance to communicate our beliefs to anybody, and hence when we do, this can lead to an uninterrupted flow of words, rather than making a clear point, and then waiting for a response. The other possible reason can the the personality of Volkov.

As to the content of what we said on that first day, it was: 1) goal and possibilities of bourgeois revolutions vs. the Russian revolution. It seems that Volkov said that bourgeois revolutions postulated goals which they couldn't accomplish, while the Russian revolution is unique, and it postulated goals which it could accomplish, but didn't. On the other hand, I said that Russian revolution is both unique and not unique, since it has stages of development in common with the past bourgeois revolutions. In particular, we, in the former USSR, are now living in an epoch which in English and French revolutions has been called "the Restoration period". The uniqueness of our situation is that we now have 2 principal parties which struggle for Restoration. One is that of bureaucracy which desires restoration of the Soviet Union, with all its regime. The other is that of "new Russians", who desire to restore capitalism. This wish they share with the ruling classes of the U.S. and other chief imperialist countries. An outcome of a Restoration period can be one, or more likely, several political revolutions to get rid of all the restoration parties. This is what we need to prepare for.

2) Other topic raised on the first day was "what is meant by 'wealth', in modern sense?", and hence "power - in whose hands is it?". Volkov subscribes to the traditional marxist view that power in the modern world is held by the capitalist classes. But I believe that power is more and more shifting into the hands of those who have the necessary knowledge for the functioning of modern global economy driven by information revolution. Hence, whereas in feudal times "wealth" meant the amount of land and serfs one owned, and in capitalist world "wealth" meant capital in its various forms, in the future (that is already partially here) "wealth" means knowledge.

Every revolution raises anew the question of power. Now, we're dealing with the world that is a global economy and is characterized by information revolution. The new social force is emerging - Internet, and other electronic networks. It is the people and the relationships around these new social forces that must be taken into account. These relationships bear first of all a non-monetary, non-capitalist character. They are characterized by expert knowledge, friendliness, and an ethic of mutual help. It is these relationships, global in character, that characterize the future world.

I felt tired after the first day of discussions, and so, using my cold and sore throat as a pretext, I decided not to meet Volkov and Yulia on the next day, April 29. Instead, together with my host Lena, we went around St. Petersburg. Lena loves to walk, and so do I. After walking across one of the many bridges to the center of the city, we found ourselves in the Museum of Political History. This tells us about the history of revolutionary movements in Russia - from the middle of the XIX century all the way to the reign of Yeltsin. The following picture of Lena, sitting under a poster proclaiming the equality of women, was taken in the museum.

(click to enlarge)

Then we went to see cruiser "Aurora" that was standing near by. This is a ship from which a signal was given for the storming of the Winter Palace in October 1917. On the left is a view of the ship. It is going into the sky on its new revolutionary mission ... After a visit to the ship, I felt tired, and even somewhat depressed. Cause of depression I didn't understand, just then. A few days later I understood that the purpose of my stay in St. Petersburg is not to visit as many museums as possible. Rather, it is to promote the theory and the movement of which I consider myself a part of. I always seem to have a strong depression whenever I stray away from this main purpose for minor details, "everyday business" which can be avoided, or is simply a waste of time.

However, the fortress of Peter and Paul was near by, and so, in spite of what my feelings told me, I felt compelled to take Lena there. Inside, we bought tickets and went to see the prison cells first. Many famous revolutionaries were jailed in the fortress, including a brother of Lenin, Alexander, hanged for his attempt on the life of the tsar. After the jail, we searched for the museum of rocketry that was supposed to be near by. We found it across the water from the fortress, and it was actually an artillery museum, rockets being only considered as a development of artillery. There, I took the photo of Lena (on the right):